Refrigerator drawer



Oct-10, 1933. A, J FELTAULT 1,930,233

' REFRIGERATOR DRAWER Filed March 18, 1932 2 Sheets-Sheet l r2 yw m'on R M i/ W ATTORNEY Oct. 10, 1933. A. J. FELTAULT 1,930,233

REFRIGERATOR DRAWER Filed March 1.8, 1932 2 Sheets-Shut 2 2 s lyEizoR Patented Oct. 10, 1933 930,233 REFRIGERATOR. DRAWER Arthur .1. Feltault, BloomfielnLN. Efesem Inc., New York, N. Y.

of New York J., assignmto a corporation Application March 18, 1932. Serial No. 599,672 11 Claims. (crass-1oz) My present invention relates generally to refrigeration, and it has more particular reference to a removable tray or drawer adapted to be inserted into the ordinary frame or rack provided in household and other mechanical refrigerators to receive and hold drawers or trays in which water is adapted to be frozen into cubes.

In the various mechanical refrigerators, such as-are operated electrically or by gas to mechani- 1 0 cally extract the heat from the interior of the refrigerator, or in other words, in the type of refrigerator which is maintained in cold condition by self-operating mechanism associated with the refrigerator as distinguished from the type 15 which is kept cold by a supply of ice, there is usually a raclr or frame built into the refrigerator in the coldest portion of the cooling compartment to receive a series of trays or drawers which may contain quantities of water to be frozen into ice cubes for table use and other purposes.

The general object of the present invention is to provide a drawer or tray which may be introduced into the refrigerator, preferably in the rack employed for holding the ice cube trays. My improved drawer or tray is intended to be used in the-making of ice cream and various frozen desserts'in the refrigerator the same as might be made in an ice cream freezer.

e The device consists primarily of a tray or 30, drawer for holding the material or liquid which is to be frozen, a cover being provided for the drawer 'or tray,- and means are provided for agiture.

tating the fluid which is held in the tray in order.

'to bring about a gradual and uniform freezing 36 action throughout the material and to avoid separation of the liquid while the freezing action is going on.

' Heretofore, it has not been possible to make ice cream and frozen desserts in refrigerator trays 40 or drawers, which is smooth and even in texture,

because there were no means provided for agitating the liquid from'time to time in order to prevent it from separating and in order to have .the liquid freeze evenly throughout. It is the particular object of the present invention to provide adrawer or tray for holding the liquid and to provide simple means which are preferably accessible from the exterior of the tray, preferably at the front end thereof, and w ch means may be operated without removing the cover from the drawer for the purpose of moving the agitating device which is disposed in the. drawer and within the liquid. N

The liquid, of which the ice cream or frozen dessert is to be made, is placed in the tray or drawer and the cover is applied to the latter. The covered drawer and its contents are placed in the refrigerator in the coldest-section thereof. such as in the cube tray rack, in order that the drawer and its contents may be subjected to the coldest temperature within the refrigerator. From time to time the operator may open the refrigerator door, take hold of the operating device at the front end of the tray without removing the'tray from the rack, and without removing the cover from the drawer, and operate the agitating device so that all portions of the body of liquid in the drawer will be thoroughly agitated to insure equal cooling of all portions thereof.

In my co-pending application Serial No. 552,847, filed July 24, 1931, I have shown a refrigerator drawer designed forthe same general purposes as the present invention. In the present case, however, I have shown certain features'of improvement over the construction shown in said co-pending application.

One object of the present invention is to simplify the construction, to simply the operation of assembling and disassembling the parts of the device in order to permit them to be cleaned, to reduce the parts to simpler form, and to reduce the cost of manufac The present invention has all of the advantages just named, in addition to all of the advantages present in the device described and claimed in my said copending application.

In the present-case I have shown agitators associated with the cover of the drawer, which project into the body of liquid'within the drawer when the cover is in place and these agitators are not only revolved about their own axes but they are also 'reciprocated lengthwise, of the drawer in order that they may act on all portions of the body of liquid. Preferably, these agitators are disposed so that they revolve in intersecting arcs .in order to more completely agitate all portions of the liquid. While the agitators are themselves projected into the liquid in the drawer, the operating mechanism by which they are operated isdisposed above the cover in order that the same shall be kept'apart from the liquid contents of the drawer. The purpose of this is to keep the liquid out of the operating mechanism and to keep the latter from carryingforeign matter into the liquid.

The agitator and means for operating it may be quickly detached from the drawer for the purpose of cleaning both the drawer and the agitator.

The agitating device may also be quickly disassembled from the cover for the purpose of cleaning all parts of it, and if desired the entire drawer, cover and agitating device may be sterilized. The drawer is provided with longitudinal slots in which the portions of the agitators which connect with the gears travel; and the slider which carries the gears for operating the agitators closes these slots when in idle position. Other advantages will be set forth in the following detailed description.

In the drawings forming part of this application,

Figure 1 is a plan view of my improved refrigerator drawer showing the same completely assembled and ready for operation,

Figure 2 is a longitudinal, sectional view taken on the line 22 of Figure 1,

Figure 3 is a perspective view of the tray rack of an ordinary mechanical refrigerator showing my improved device in position for use,

Figure 4 is afragmentary assembly view of the several parts of the drawer in separated position,

Figure 5 is a view similar to Figure 1 but with parts broken away and showing the agitator moving forwardly,

Figure 6 is a sectional view taken on the line -66 of Figure 1,

Figure '7 is a plan view of a portion of the agitating device with one of the gear caps in as in the operation of applying or removing the V same,

Figure 10 is an elevation of one of the agitators, and

Figure 11 is a plan view thereof.

The receptacle or drawer for holding the liquid may take various shapes but in the drawings I have shown a rather long and shallow drawer 1 of substantially rectangular shape, consisting of a bottom wall 2, side walls 3, and the front and rear walls 4, 5, the upper portion of the drawer being open and adapted to receive a cover thereon to protect the contents from dust. The upper edges of the several walls of the drawer are shown curved outwardly and downwardly, as at 6, to assist in grasping and holding the drawer as well as to form means for engaging and holding the cover.

The cover has a top wall 7 extending over the entire top of the drawer and its outer edge is turned outwardly and downwardly, as shown at 8 to engage in the turned edge 6 of the drawer.

The operating part of the agitating device is mounted upon this cover with the agitators depending therefrom and into the body of liquid,

as will be hereinafter set forth. The drawer, to-

gether with the cover and operating device are preferably so designed as to be readily insertable into one of the compartments of the rack 9 in the refrigerator 10 which is the rack usually provided to receive drawers 11 in which liquid is contained to be frozen into ice cubes. The present drawer may, therefore, be substituted for one or more of these ice cube drawers whenever ice cream or frozen desserts are to be made.

The top wall of the cover is provided, prefer ably, with two longitudinal slots 12 extending lengthwise of the cover, and on opposite sides ofits median line; these slots extending parallel length of the cover to correspond with the length- .wise travel of the agitators, but they terminate short of the ends thereof, so as to leave ample material at opposite ends of the cover.

Preferably, intermediate the parallel slots there is mounted on the top of the cover a rack bar 13 which may be cast integral with the cover but which may be more conveniently made from extruded stock. I have shown this rack bar as made separate from and attached to the cover, and it consists of an intermediate portion 14 which rests on the top surface of the cover where it is attached by means of rivets 15; At each side of this central portion there are laterally extending flanges 16 which are raised from the top surface of the cover in order to allow certain guiding members to engage beneath them.

The oppositely directed free edges of the rack member are provided with rack teeth 1'7 in two rows directed away from each other or away from the central line of the rack member. There is a slider 18 mounted over. and slidable in relation to the cover, which slider carries the gears foroperating the agitators as well as caps for these gears. The slider is shown as an elongated member 18 of substantially flat or plate form having two rounded extensions 19 at one end to form housings for the gears, and at the opposite end the slider is arched forwardly and downwardly as shown at 20, to provide a convenient handle located at the forward end of the drawer as a convenient means for grasping the slider in order to reciprocate it lengthwise of the drawer. The edges of the slider are preferably stamped or rolled to provide a shallow depending flange 21 extending all around the edge of the sliderlng except that at the handle portion the flange is rolled inwardly and compressed to reinforce the handle and to make its edges rounded and smooth.

Along the central portion of the slider there is attached to it or made integral with it a member co-operating with the rack bar to hold the slider in position and to guide it in relation to the cover. This member, in theparticular embodiment illustrated in the drawings, is shown as having an intermediate portion 22 which is se-" cured to the under side of the slider by the rivets 23. At each side the guiding member extendsdownwardly at 24 and thence horizontallyat 25 to form guiding members extending in opposite directions or toward each other. These areadapted to engage under the flanges 16' of the rack member in order to secure the. slider in sliding relationship to the cover and to guide the slider in its reciprocating movement.

I have shown two detachable gears 26 for en'- gaging the teeth of the rack member, .the gears having hubs 27 at the center and projecting in opposite directions from the faces of the gears.

At each side of the slider there are formed depressions 28 in the centers of which are apertures 29 to receive therethrough one end of the hub 2'? of each gear so that the hubs of the gears have one bearing in these apertures, with one face of each gear resting revolvably against the under surface .of the depression 28.

The portions 30 of the flange of the slider are shown as arcuate inshape and disposed concentrically around the respective axes of the gears. There are flanges 31 disposed in parallel relation and adjacent the opposed portions of the 150 the same shape each having a flat wall 35 pro-- vided with an aperture 36 to receive one end of the hub 2'7 of the gear; and around the circular edge of each cap there is a depending flange 36 Across the straight side of each cap there is a flange 37 corresponding in depth with the curved flange 36 but this straight flange is provided with a slot or opening 38 through which one of the gears may project into engagement with the teeth of the rack. This straight flange 3'7 also has a slight lip '39 which is adapted to snap into the recess 33 for the purpose of securing the gear cap in place.

In assembling the parts the gears are placed against the under side of the slider so that one end of the hub 27 of each gear passes through one of the apertures 29 of the slider with the face of the-gear resting against the depression 28. The outer portion of each gear when so positioned will extend through one of the slots 32 of a flange 31 of the slider. The gear caps are then placed over the respective gears 26 so that the circular flanges :36 flt into the circular portions 30 of the flange of the slider and the caps are then pressed toward the slider until the abutment 39 on the flange of the slider snaps into the groove 33, whereupon the gear caps will be frictionally held in place so that they surround and enclose the gears and co-operate in holding them in position. When the gear caps are snapped into position one end of each hub of a gear will project through and have its bearing in the aperture 36 of the gear cap.

The agitators are shown in detail in Figures 10 and 11. They consist, in part, of a hub 40 from which extend in opposite directions the two arms 41. The hub is provided with a polygonal socket 42 to receive the polygonal end 43 on the lower end of the hub of a gear.

In-addition, there is a threaded aperture extending through the central portion of the hub through which the attaching screw 44 is threaded, with the knurled head45 of the screw disposed under the arms 41. The agitating members are shown as composed of a strap bent into yoke shape at 46 to extend around the head 45 of the attaching screw and to allow this head of the screw to have a limited movement between the yoke 46 and the arms 41 but to prevent the screw from disengaging entirely from the hub 40. The strap at each side of the yoke 46 is shown attached to the arms 41 by rivets 47. The strap extends downwardly from the opposite arms 48 as at 49 for a distance depending upon the depth of the particular drawer in which the device is to be used, and the ends of the strap are brought together, as shown at 50 and attached by a. rivet 51. Both agitators are constructed the same, so

that a description of one applies to both.

The slider is applied to the cover by applying the right hand end thereof as viewed in Figure 1 upon the left hand end of the cover and centrally thereof, so that the guides 25' extend under the flanges 16 of the rack bar. The slider is then moved towardthe right with the guiding members 25 of the slider travelling under the flanges l6 of the rack bar until the slider is moved, preferably, to the position shown in Figures 1 and 2. When the slider has been thus assembled, on the cover, the agitators may be attached to the gears as follows: One of the agitators is presented toward the slider so that the angular socket 42 in the hub of the agitator is fitted over the polygonal end 43 of the lower end of the hub of one of the gears.

In thus positioning the agitator, its hub 40 extends through one of the parallel slots 12 of the cover.

While the agitator is held in the position described, the screw 44 is turned, so that the shank of the screw is screwed into the threaded aperture 52 in the center of the hub of the gear; and when the screw is completely tightened it will hold the hub of the agitator assembled on the hub of the gear. By reason of the polygonal socket 42 fitting the polygonal end 43 on the end of the,

gear hub the agitator will be compelled to revolve whenever the gear is revolved. The other agitator will be attached to the other gear in the same manner as above described.

In order to detachably hold the cover and,

slider on the top of the drawer, I have shown a lip 53 extending from the flange of the cover and engaging under the edge of the flange 6 'of the drawer, as shown-in Figure 2 for the purof the cover, and then sliding it to disengage the;

hook 53.

The device may be used in the following manner: The liquid which is to be frozen is placed in the compartment 59 of the drawer. It may be assumed that the slider, with the gears, and the gear caps all assembled, is mounted on the cover and that the agitators have been attached to the hubs of the gears, all as shown in Figures 1 and 2} as well as in Figures 5 and 6. The cover, may

now be applied to the top of the drawer and the whole device may 'be inserted into the tray rack 9 as shown in Figure 3.

The door-of the refrigerator may be closed and the contents of the drawer will be subjected to the cooling'action of the refrigerator until cooling has progressed to a point where, it. is necessary to start the agitating operation. The' door of the refrigerator may then be opened and the operator will grasp the handle 20 of the slider and reciprocate it back ar d forth, preferably, without removing the drawer from the rack.

As the slider is reciprocated it is guided to move parallel with the cover ofthe drawer by reason of the guiding action of the members 25 travelling under the flanges 16 of the rack mem ber. The gears 26 are in 'mesh with the rows of teeth 1'7 01' the rack bar so that as the slider is reciprocated and carries the gears with it, the latter are caused to revolve on their respective axes, first in one direction as the slider is moved.

to the left in Figure l, and then in relatively reverse directions as the slider is moved to the right. The agitators, extending downwardly from the slider project into the liquid in the drawer and as the slider is reciprocated the agitators turn with the gears and they not only revolve on their own axes but also reciprocate lengthwise of the drawer and they therefore agitate all portions of the body of liquid in the drawer.

The operations will be repeated several times until the liquid has been frozen into a more .or less solid form, and after that the agitating operations may be discontinued and the drawer allowed to remain in the refrigerator until the material has been frozen as hard as desired.

After the freezing operation is completed, the drawer may be removed from the refrigerator and the cover may be removed by disengaging the spring 56 from the member 54 and lifting the cover off the drawer.

It will be observed that the slots 12 are covered by the slider whenever the device is at rest,

as shown in Figure 1. The agitators may be detached from the operating device by simply unscrewing the screws 44 to disengagethem from the hubs of the gears, and this will free the agitators and permit their being washed or sterilized without necessarily washing the entire device. If, however, it is desired to disassemble the device and wash the operating parts, then after the agitators have been disassembled, the slider may be moved to the left in Figure 1 until it moves entirely off the cover. The caps 34 may be sprung out of their sockets and the gears 26 may be lifted off the slider and then all parts of the device may be separately washed and cleaned. The gear caps 34 may be very cheaply stamped from sheet metal and they form a convenient closure for the gears as well as a partial mounting for them. The present device is simple in construction and operation and the parts may all be made by inexpensive methods.

Having described my invention, what I claim is:

1. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover and adapted to hold a supply of liquidto be frozen, a rack member on the top of said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, gears carried by said slider and co-operating with said rack member to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots therein, agitators disposed under said cover and connected with said gears through the slots in the cover whereby said agitatorswill be revolved and reciprocated under the reciprocation of said slider, said slider being adapted to close the slots inthe cover.

2. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover and adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, a-rack bar including a central portion resting against and attached to the top side of said cover and having oppositely extending flanges raised from said cover, said flanges being provided with rack teeth, a slider mounted to slide. on said cover and having a bar secured thereto, said latter bar having flanges engaging under the flanges of said first bar whereby said slider is slidably connected with said cover, said cover having slots parallel with said rack bar, gears carried by said slider, agitators depending from said cover and operatively connected through the slots of said cover with said gears to revolve and reciprocate therewith and within said drawer, said gears engaging the teeth of said racks whereby upon the reciprocation of said slider said gears will be revolved to operate said agitators.

3. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover, adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, a rack bar on the top of said cover, slots in said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, said slider having depressed portions provided with apertures, gears having hubs insertable into said apertures, the faces of said gears resting against the depressed portions of said slider, with the outer portions of said gears free of said depressed portions, said gears arranged to mesh with the teeth of said rack whereby they will be revolved upon the reciprocation of the slider, and agitators depending from said cover and operatively connected with said gears through the slots in said cover, said agitators being adapted to act on the liquid in said drawer.

4. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover and adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, a rack bar on the top of said cover having rack teeth thereon, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, gears carried by said slider and co-operating with the teeth on said rack bar to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots, agitators disposed under said cover and connected with said gears through the slots in the cover, whereby the agitators will be revolved and reciprocated within said drawer upon the reciprocation of said slider, and detachable caps connected with said slider and enclosing said gears.

5. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover and adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, a rack member on the top .of said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, a gear carried by said slider and co-operating with said rack member to be revolved thereby, said. cover having a slot therein, an agitator disposed under said cover and connected with said gear through the slot in the cover whereby the agitator will be revolved and reciprocated within said drawer upon the reciprocation of said slider, a cap for enclosing said gear, and means for attaching, said cap by a snap engagement with said slider.

6. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover and adapted to'hold a supply of liquid to .be frozen, a rack bar on the top of said cover having rack teeth on opposite sides thereof, a, slider mounted to slide on said cover, gears carried by said slider and co-operating with the rows of teeth on said rack member to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots on opposite sides of said rack bar, agitators disposed under' said cover and connected with said respective gears through the slots in the cover whereby the agitators will be revolved and reciprocated within said drawer upon the reciprocation of said slider,

caps for separately enclosing said gears, and means for attaching said caps by a snap engagement with said slider.

7. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray adapted to be inserted inthe cooling coil of a refrigerator, said tray having a cover, and adapted to holcla supply of liquid to be frozen, a rack bar on the top of said cover having rack teeth on opposite sides thereof, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, gears carried by said slider and co-operating with the rows of teeth on said rack bar to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots on opposite sides of said rack bar, agitators disposed under said cover and connected with said respective gears through the slots in the cover whereby the agitators will be revolved and reciprocated within said drawer upon the reciprocation of said slider, caps for separately enclosing said gears, and means for attaching said caps by a snap engagement with said slider, said slider being adapted to close said slots in the cover.

8. A device of the class described including a drawer or tray-having a cover and adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, said drawer adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, a rack bar on the top of said cover having teeth, a slider mounted to slide on said cover and having a depending flange thereon, gears carried by said slider and disposed within said flange and co-operating/with the teeth of said rack bar to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots, agitators disposed under the cover and within said drawer and connected with the respective gears through the slots in the cover, and capsengaging the'flange of said slider and co-operating with the slider to form enclosures for said gears. 9. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray having a cover and adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen, said drawer being adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, a rack bar on said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover, said slider having depending flanges of substantially D shape, arranged inopposed positions with openings in the straight sides of said flanges, gears carried by said slider and disposed within said flanges, portions of the gears extending through the openings in said straight portion of said flanges, said gears meshing with the teeth of said rack member to be revolved thereby, said cover having slots, agitators disposed under the-cover and connected with the respective gears through the slots in the cover whereby the agitators will be reciprocated and revolved within said drawer upon the reciprocation of said slider, and caps 'detachably connected with said flanges of the slider to form means for enclosing said gears.

10. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray having a cover and adpted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen said drawer adapted to be inserted in the cooling coil of a refrigerator, a rack bar on said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover and having bearing apertures,,gears carried by said slider, said gears having hubs, one end of each hub being adapted to be received into the bearing aperture of the slider, caps detachbly attached to said slider to enclose said gears, said caps having bearing apertures in which the opposite ends of the hubs of said gears have their bearings, said cover having slots, agitators depending from the cover and connected with the hubs of said gears through the slots of the cover whereby when the slider is reciprocated said agitators will be revolved within said drawer by the action of said rack bar on said gears and whereby said agitators will be reciprocated in said drawer.

11. A device of the class described, including a drawer or tray having a cover and'adapted to hold a supply of liquid to be frozen adapted to be inserted in a cooling coil of a refrigerator, a rack bar on said cover, a slider mounted to slide on said cover and having gears meshing with said rack bar, agitators depending from said cover and adapted to be revolved and reciprocated within said drawer by the movement of said slider, and to agitate the liquid in said drawer, said agitators having hubs adapted to be connected with said gears, a headed screw passing through said hubs and. threaded into said gears, a yoke extending around the heads of said screws to prevent the screws withdrawing from the hub of the agitator.

ARTHUR J. FELTAULT. 

